Syllabus subtopic: Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.

Prelims and Mains focus: About the ethnic tribes in Assam; Assam Accord and its significance

News: Non­-tribal communities living in Assam can never claim to be ‘khilonjia’ or indigenous, said the All­ Assam Kochari Samaj (AAKS) that represents the earliest ethnic communities inhabiting the State.

Significane of the statements.

The samaj’s statement assumes significance ahead of a report to be submitted by a 15­member panel enlisting the communities that qualify to be called ‘khilonjia’ for implementing Clause 6 of the Assam Accord of 1985.

What is Assam Accord?

• The Assam Accord (1985) was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement in New Delhi on 15 August 1985.
• The accord brought an end to the Assam Agitation and paved the way for the leaders of the agitation to form a political party and form a government in the state of Assam soon after.
• As per the Accord, those Bangladeshis who came between 1966 and 1971 will be barred from voting for ten years. The Accord also mentions that the international borders will be sealed and all persons who crossed over from Bangladesh after 1971 are to be deported.
• Though the accord brought an end to the agitation, some of the key clauses are yet to be implemented, which has kept some of the issues festering.

What does Clause 6 state?

Clause 6 of the Assam Accord “envisaged that appropriate constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.”

1881 census

• The 1881 census recorded 19 groups within the Kochari classification but some got isolated from the parental stock. Today, it comprises communities such as Bodo, the largest plains tribe in the northeast, Deuri, Dimasa, Rabha, Sonowal Kachari, Thengal Kachari and Tiwa.
• Large swathes of Assam are under autonomous or development councils specifically for these communities.

Kochari kingdom

• Kochari kings began ruling areas under present­day Assam and beyond 1,500 years before the Mahabharata era. But the non­tribal have pushed the tribal history aside despite the United Nations specifying that only the aborigines can be called indigenous.
• The samaj claimed many traits representative of mainstream Assamese culture today were appropriated from the tribes. These include the floral ‘gamosa’, or cloth­towel, that has become a symbol of the anti-CAA protest.
• The Kochari group also pointed out that the Ahoms, who came from Thailand some 800 years ago, were non­indigenous. The Ahoms are one of six communities demanding Scheduled Tribe status, which the Kocharis enjoying ST status are opposed to.

Ethnic groups in Assam

• Assam is acknowledged as the settling land for a lot of cultures. A number of tribal grouping have landed in the soils of Assam in the course of diverse directions as the territory was linked to a number of states and many different countries.
• Austro-Asiatic, Mongoloids, and Indo-Aryans had been the most important traditional groups that arrived at the site and lived in the very old Assam. They were well thought-out as the ‘aborigines’ of Assam and yet at the moment they are essential elements of the “Assamese Diaspora”.

• The greater Bodo-kachari group encompasses the 18 major tribes of Assam, both plain and hills, viz., Boro, Dimasa, Chutia, Sonowal, Mech, Tiwa, Garo, Rabha, Sarania, Hajong, Tripuri, Deori, Thengal, Hojai, Koch, and others.

• The ancient land of 'Kirat' is also referred to the land of the Kachari. Bodo Kacharis were historically the dominant group of Assam, who were later dominated in the 1500s by the Tai Ahoms, the ethnic group who along with the Upper Assam Bodo-Kachari groups like Chutias, Morans and Borahis were associated with the term "Assamese".

• Along with Tai Ahoms, they were other prominent groups that ruled Assam valley during the medieval period, those belonging to the Chutiya, Koch, and Dimasa communities. The first group ruled from 1187 to 1673 in the eastern part of the state, the second group ruled Lower Assam from 1515 to 1949, while the third group ruled southern part of Assam from the 13th century to 1854.

• Bodos are the dominant group in BTAD (Bodoland Territorial Council). They speak the Bodo language among themselves along with using Assamese to communicate with other indigenous Assamese communities as the lingua-franca.

• Most of the indigenous Assamese communities today have actually been historically tribal and even the now considered non-tribal population of Assam were actually tribes which have slowly been converted into castes through Sanskritisation.

• Actually, more than 70-75% or more of the now considered non-tribal population of Assam actually have Mongoloid roots and origin and thus were historically tribal. Some of the tribal groups were able to enter into the Hindu upper caste society while some of them remained in the tribal or lower caste society. Thus, Assam has always been a historically tribal state.

• Ahoms along with Chutiya, Moran, Motok, and Koch are still regarded as semi-tribal groups who have nominally converted to Ekasarana Dharma even though keeping alive their own tribal traditions and customs. Various indigenous Assamese communities in Assam like Chutiya, Koch-Rajbongshi, Moran, Motok, Ahoms etc (all having tribal origin) have slowly been converted into a caste through Sanskritisation.

As per latest development Moran, Chutiya, Motok, Tea tribes, Tai Ahoms and Koch have realised the above-mentioned points and have applied for ST status. This will make Assam a predominantly tribal state having wider geo-political ramifications.

The govt is likely to find it hard to trim the fiscal deficit

Syllabus subtopic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.

Prelims and Mains focus: about the problems faced by the govt. in GST collections and its impact on the fiscal deficit

News: The budgeted fiscal deficit for 2019-20 stands at Rs. 7.04 trillion. However, the fiscal deficit for the period April-November is higher than this and stands at Rs. 8.08 trillion.

Why has the fiscal deficit crossed Rs. 8 trillion?

The fiscal deficit of Rs. 8.08 trillion for April-November is nearly 15% more than the budgeted fiscal deficit for the year, with data for four months yet to be available. The fiscal deficit basically has two entries: the total expenditure of the government and its total earnings. The total expenditure during the first eight months of the fiscal is Rs. 18.20 trillion. This is a little over 65% of the expenditure that the government plans to make during the year. Hence, things are all right on the expenditure front. The problems are on the earnings front, in particular, the tax revenues that the government had hoped to earn during this fiscal.

What’s wrong with the tax revenue growth?

The gross tax revenue collected by the government during the first eight months of the fiscal was Rs. 11.74 trillion, around 0.8% higher than during the same period last year. Hence, tax collections have been largely flat this year. The interesting thing is that the gross tax revenue needs to grow 18.3% from last year’s collections for the government to earn what it has projected in the budget. Finance ministry bureaucrats were not expecting the economy and tax collections to slow down as much as they have. The economy grew by a little over 7% in the first half of this fiscal. The growth in tax collections hasn’t matched that.

How do things look for the remaining part of this fiscal?

The gross tax revenue that the government had hoped to earn this fiscal is Rs. 24.61 trillion. It has barely earned around 48% of this in the first eight months of the fiscal. It is highly unlikely for the government to earn the remaining 52% between December 2019 and March 2020. This means there is a large hole in its budget for the current fiscal.

Can disinvestment solve this problem?

The disinvestment of public sector enterprises (PSEs) was supposed to bring in Rs. 1.05 trillion this fiscal. Until November, only Rs. 18,099 crore or 17% of the projected amount had been earned. Media reports seem to suggest major disinvestments that the government has planned won’t go through this year. That basically leaves the government with two ways of trimming the fiscal deficit: cutting down on expenditure or not showing it. Reducing expenditure when government spending is driving growth would be a bad idea.

What does it mean not to show expenditure?

Over the years, the government hasn’t paid the food subsidy dues of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on time. It can try this trick this time as well. Given that the government works on cash accounting, when it decides not to pay for an expenditure it doesn’t show up in the books of the government. Of course, FCI has to borrow this money to keep functioning. Banks lend to FCI mainly because they believe they are lending to the government.

Note: to read more about the Food Corporation of India click on the following link

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/with-stocks-piling-up-fci-is-in-deep-trouble/article29268321.ece

Uptick in GST collections doesn’t suggest the economy is firing up

Syllabus subtopic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.

Prelims and Mains focus: About the decisions made in GST Council regarding Input Tax Credit (ITC); trends in GST collections and its impact on fiscal deficit and the overall Indian economy

News: Goods and services tax (GST) collections in December accelerated to cross the Rs. 1 trillion mark for the second consecutive month, up 8.9% year-on-year. This should normally suggest green shoots. However, changed GST Council norms for claiming input credit may have contributed to the increase in collections in December.

What are the changed norms of claiming input credit?

• The changed norms mandate companies to match their purchase invoices with those uploaded by their vendors.
• Input credit claims have been limited to 20%, which is now further reduced to 10%, where details are not uploaded by suppliers.
• As a result, a larger number of companies have to upload GST returns with corresponding invoices into the system.
• This led to an increase in GST returns filed in December for sales in November, from 7.2 million a year ago to 8.1 million now. This means about 1 million filers have been added in 2019.
• The overall input tax credit may have decreased in the system, because of which taxpayers would have paid more GST. So, cash collections seem to have gone up

Overall tax collections and performance of various sectors

• In contrast, overall tax collections have been anaemic. The government’s gross tax revenue declined 1% year-on-year until November.
• Also, the output of core industries contracted, slipping 1.5% year-on-year in November, the fourth consecutive month of decline.
• Auto volumes remain weak and the slight pickup in passenger vehicle sales could be explained by the increase in year-end discounts.
• Demand has been slowing down across the board because of weak income generation. This is more pronounced in the rural economy, the small and medium enterprises and the unorganized sector.
• All this hampers a broad-based pickup in consumption.
• Structural income generation in the economy at the middle and bottom of the pyramid has been affected.
• Rural income growth has been really low. This has led to a change in consumption patterns.
• Anaemic credit pickup among companies worsens the slowdown. Companies are barely raising more cash to fund operations and growth. The sluggish corporate bond and commercial paper market is an indicator of this. Fundraising from commercial papers and bonds, including corporate bank credit, has barely risen. Banks have hardly been lending.
• Besides, there is a lack of good borrowers. So, credit expansion is just not happening.

What about the fiscal deficit?

• GST collection trends may need to sustain in a big way in the next few months to bridge an increasing fiscal gap. The fiscal deficit has inched up to 115% of the budget estimates until November.
• This is higher than the typical 85-100% deficit seen till November in the past. This hampers the government’s ability to heavy-lift the economy. The room for propping up infrastructure and construction spends is limited.
• The growth numbers are easily getting a bump-up because of a lower offtake last year.
• The government’s heavy-lifting in the economy also has to sustain. However, the delicate fiscal situation is not making it any easy. So, unless GST picks up substantially, real income in the rural economy will hardly grow.

Conclusion

Though the economy seems to have bottomed out, in the light of weak GST and fiscal collections, the outlook is clouded. GST collections need to fire up and fire up in a big way

Syllabus subtopic: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Prelims and Mains focus: about SARAS aircraft and its significance; about UDAN scheme

News: The government needs to be the “launch customer” to make Saras Mk2 commercially viable, the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL), which has developed the first indigenous light transport aircraft, told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology.

About Saras aircraft

• The 19­seater aircraft, developed with a target cost of Rs. 50 crore, is at least 20­25% lower in cost than other aircraft in the similar category.
• The aircraft has been in the making for long. The first prototype flew in 2004. But without the initial push from the government, the manufacturing capacity required for commercial production could not be set up, the NAL said.
• Presently, the NAL has only one order from the Indian Air Force for 15 aircraft.

Connecting SARAS to UDAN

• The NAL has been pitching Saras Mk­2 for the government’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), since it has the capacity to operate in “ill-equipped”, “semi­prepared” and “unpaved airstrips”.

About UDAN scheme

• UDAN is an acronym for “Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik”.
• It is a Regional Air Connectivity Scheme (RCS) which attempts to connect smaller towns with bigger cities to develop the regional aviation market.
• The scheme UDAN envisages providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the country through revival of existing air-strips and airports.
• It will create affordable yet economically viable and profitable flights on regional routes so that flying becomes affordable to the common man even in small towns.
• It was officially launched in 2016.
• Under the first two phases of UDAN, airlines are already operating on 120 routes to 37 un-served and underserved airports.

UDAN Round 3:

Under the latest round of the scheme, 73 proposals were awarded to 11 airlines that will connect a total of 39 airports. These include 16 unserved airports, 17 underserved airports and six water aerodromes.

Key Features of UDAN 3 included –

• Inclusion of Seaplanes for connecting Water Aerodromes,
• Inclusion of Tourism Routes suggested by the Ministry of Tourism and
• Bringing in a number of routes in the North-East Region under the ambit of UDAN.

Way ahead

• The NAL has said in its report that the government should be the “launch customer”, and place an order for at least 50­60 aircraft, which can be used for VIP services or tackling emergencies in times of natural calamities.
• With the firm commitment for procurement from the government, industries will come forward to set up manufacturing infrastructure. This will also push the growth of the micro, small and medium enterprises and allied service sector.

About NAL

• National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), is India’s second largest aerospace firm after Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) established it in 1959 in Delhi and its headquarters was later moved to Bangalore in 1960.
• The firm closely operates with HAL, DRDO and ISRO and has prime responsibility of developing civilian aircraft in India.